Undercoat fenders?

[signsup]

Since I'm working on my "new to me" front fenders, I noticed

the PO had used the same black paint on the top and bottom of the fenders, but the top surface was extremely high gloss while the bottom on the fenders was flat and pitted. Presume clear coat on the exterior. But, I'm scuffing everything up and doing some minor body work prior to painting with lusterless OD green for my WWI ambulance project. So, was wondering if anyone used the rattle can bed liner or undercoating sprays on the bottom of fenders or running boards to protect them from dirt and moisture collecting in the nooks and crannies?

[Humblej]

No, nobody does that on a model T.

[TXGOAT2]

Never seen it. I don't think it would give much protection at body joints Periodically flushing debris out of body joints and from around fender braces and other places that mud or dust can collect is a good idea. Any place in the body structure that can collect dust, mud, leaves, bugs, mouse droppings, etc. needs to be cleaned out periodically to prevent corrosion and wood decay. Spraying Fluid Film inside these areas and into the inside lower portion of doors can help prevent corrosion. Any Fluid Film that seeps out onto the exterior surfaces will collect dust, but otherwise will do no harm.

[signsup]

OK, saves me money and work. Good paint job should make fenders last longer than me, so it's gonna be someone else's problem.
Thanks, guys.

TO THE WORKSHOP!!

[Allan]

On the underside of the flat panels on my 1912 chocolate van I used the same rocker panel finish as used on Mercedes Benz cars. It stops rock chips and star cracks in the paint from underneath, while still having a relatively non textured finish which still shows a gloss finish. That was 30 years ago now. On a good restoration on flat panels I'd do it again in a heartbeat.

Allan from down under.

[John kuehn]

I don’t think Ford did that at the factory but maybe it was sold as a Ford accessory item if you wanted an undercoating?

[Allan]

I guess with no tread on early tyres, flinging up stones was much less likely. Ford almost certainly just painted the top and bottom sides the same way.

On the barn fresh car that I am working on at the moment the Duncan and Fraser built local body is painted green. Unusually, the black Ford factory mudguards, splash panels and running boards are painted the same colour as the body. While the body colour is mostly intact, the green on the factory black and most of the black has long gone. Perhaps this is an indication of the quality of the original paint. In photos posted of not quite new cars, the finish is often well aged to look at.

Allan from down under.

[dinosbunny]

I use it on all of the cars I have rebuilt and love the stuff. First, prime and paint the underneath then you can use the rattle can undercoating or bed liner. It will help protect your fenders from rock stars.

[jiminbartow]

I once saw a 1920 Model T coupe in a car show with the underside of the fenders painted a gloss black with as much attention to detail as the top of the fender and I was very impressed. The reflection of the backside of the front wheels looked beautiful.

[TXGOAT2]

OK on a show car.... but utterly impractical here.

[TRDxB2]

It makes sense to protect one's vehicle. When restoring a T many things are done to make it "correct" none of which Ford did. (paint for one thing). Since you will be paining the underside of your pitted WWI ambulance front fenders lusterless OD green who's to know whats under the paint, pits or bed liner. And if its smooth then .....
https://www.durabakcompany.com/products ... 1676475427
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[Craig Leach]

I don't think Ziebart even started the undercoating industry until 32 or 33 years after model T's went out of production. Salt didn't become
popular for deicing roads until the winter of 1941 which is the number one reason for the popularity of undercoating. The lack of domestic auto production during the war may have spurred that on also. And after the war changing body styles created many more hidden places for corrosion
to occur. Heck it took Chevrolet 44 years to figure out how to make front fenders that rust out @ the rear corner. We think T parts are getting
expensive a pair of used cherry rust free 1956-1966 Chevy front fenders go as high as $1,000 to $1,500
Craig.

[John kuehn]

Well if I drove my car enough to be in areas where there is salt or blacktop being put down on a road that might be a consideration but I still wouldnt put it on. In my mind it would be overkill. But to each their own I would say. When I painted my car I took extra care to do a nice job on the tops of the fenders and splash shields and just shot the undersides a good coat or two and that was it.

[ModelTWoods]

There are lots of good points made on this post. When my father and I restored his father's 1927 coupe in the late 1960's, we undercoated all the fenders to hide repairs and imperfections. WE HAD TO! Both front fenders were rusted off inches before the running boards and splash aprons and the rear fenders were rusted off on the running board and the opposite (rear) end. We didn't live in an area where collectors with 26-27 parts were plentiful. We were able to find one good passenger rear fender about 100 miles away, which we obtained to replace that bad fender, but we had to patch, braze, and Bondo the other three fenders and to hide the repairs, undercoating was the only way. The car was never going to be judged, so we weren't going for a 100 point restoration.
Fast forward 50 years; I did a new restoration on the car, correcting as many flaws from the original restoration as possible; replacing the wrong year block with the correct year block; replacing all 4 fenders with flawless originals which i had collected over those 50 years, and replacing the interior that was done incorrectly in the first restoration. The flawless fenders are painted, not undercoated on the bottom side.

[Allan]

The penny finally dropped for me. Undercoat for me is the paint layer/s under the final finish colour coats. I'm guessing you call these primer coats. Your under coat is what we call underseal, a thick protective coating aimed at sound deadening and corrosion inhibiting.

Allan from down under?

[TXGOAT2]

I would avoid the thick undercoating. Products are available today that are around 1/16" thick and can remain slightly flexible for a long time. They reduce noise and prevent erosion of the metal by road debris.

[TRDxB2]

Genuine Ziebart Rust Protection and Undercoating is asphalt-based - ensures that the underside and all upper body panels of your vehicle remain rust-free. It's inspected and renewed once a year
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Many possible materials used for undercoating https://www.synchrony.com/blog/automoti ... ating.html